Notes and Essays -- John Brown

Posts

May 10, 2026

Russia and Ukraine agree to 3-day ceasefire, prisoner swap brokered by US Trump hopes truce can be the ‘beginning of the end’; ahead of WWII Victory Day parade in Moscow, Zelensky says ‘Red Square matters less to us than the lives of Ukrainian prisoners’ By DARLENE SUPERVILLE 9 May 2026, 5:19 am Share FILE - In this combination of file photos, US President Donald Trump, left, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, center, are seen at the Elysee Palace, December 7, 2024 in Paris, and Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses a Technology Forum in Moscow on February 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, left and center, Pavel Bednyakov, right, File) WASHINGTON (AP) — US President Donald Trump said Friday that the leaders of Russia and Ukraine have agreed to his request for a three-day ceasefire and an exchange of prisoners, adding that such a halt to hostilities could be the “beginning of the end” of the long war between them. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky an...

May 09, 2026

Vladimir Putin suggests Ukraine war is ‘coming to an end’ Russian president damns western support that has allowed Ukraine to hold out and asks for talks with Gerhard Schröder in remarks after diminished Victory Day parade Guardian staff and agencies Sat 9 May 2026 20.52 EDT Share Prefer the Guardian on Google Vladimir Putin has said he thinks the Ukraine war is winding down – remarks that came a few hours after he had vowed to defeat Ukraine at Moscow’s most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years. “I think that the matter is coming to an end,” Putin told reporters of the Russia-Ukraine war, Europe’s deadliest conflict since the second world war. He said he would be willing to negotiate new security arrangements for Europe, and that his preferred negotiating partner would be Germany’s former chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Putin, who has ruled Russia as president or prime minister since the last day of 1999, faces a wave of anxiety in Moscow about the war in Ukraine, which has...

Is Putin winning the war?

May 09, 2026

From Quora (received May 9) olor: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #282829; padding: 12px 12px 0px; position: relative;"> Elena Gold · Follow Wrote a book about Russia-Ukraine war Thu Is Putin winning the war? Putin isn’t “winning the war” he started—at the start, he clearly laid the goals: “denazification and demilitarization” of Ukraine—meaning, installing a puppet regime and destroying Ukraine’s army. He failed. Putin also said the goal was to capture (“liberate”) the territory of Donbas—he was more successful there: the Russian troops managed to capture nearly all territory of the Luhansk region and 75% of the Donetsk region. (Russia already had control of the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk since 2014.) Russia controls LESS territory now compared to 4 years ago: in March 2022, Russia controlled 27% of the Ukrainian territory. Now, it’s 20%. Russia lost territory compared to the situation just 4 weeks into their invasion . The areas that Russia captured in comb...